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Carbide knives for DW735 planer

Just an FYI. I got an email today announcing carbide blades for the DW735 planer. They're made by/for Infinity. They're only one-sided (can't flip 'em over like the steel version), but Infinity says you can resharpen the carbide ones "multiple times."

They're priced at $249, but if you order this week they're $199. This price seems to be more or less in line with Infinity's other carbide-tipped blades. They are a bit pricey compared with other companies' generic (not for DW735), carbide-tipped blades, however.

Not sure if this is a good deal or not, but I thought I'd throw it out there to see what everyone thinks.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Infinity other than having ordered a catalog from them once.

Brian Evans

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." - Mark Twain

I'm really curious to see how these work out. I'm a big fan of Infinity and I have the DW735 planer. Frankly, I haven't had the problems with blade longevity that some people have had but they can't last for ever.

In my opinion, Infinity blades and bits are as good as or better than any other brand out there. I would be surprised if these new planer blades don't live up to their reputation for high quality. Their regular prices are generally about average for premium quality but they have frequent sales and that's when you can get a really good deal. Regardless of the prices I've paid though, I've always got a premium product.

That being said, $200, (on sale) is quite a bit of $$ considering that's about 4 complete sets of the standard Dewalt planer blades. And 4 standard blades have 8 cutting surfaces. 8 cutting surfaces should last for quite a while for the average hobbiest. One thing to remember is that when the blades get nicked up you can shift one blade at a time to keep the nicks from showing up on your workpiece. I don't know how many times I've shifted the blades on mine to get a smooth surface. Of course that doesn't keep them sharp but so far I've had pretty good luck with that too. Carbide should last a lot longer than the HSS blades though so I'm interested to see how they work out for the first few buyers. Hopefully they will keep us 735 owners posted on the subject.

$249., (with a very sarcastic tone) perfect! I wish I was one of those 735 owners who've hadn't any blade issues. I'm sick and tired of throwing time and money at these yellow plastic clad power tools. I'm de whupped.

DeWalt 735 Carbide Tipped Knives

Our new carbide-tipped knives for the DeWalt 735 planer cost 4x more than than our HSS version but they should last about 10x longer. At $250 for the set they're not cheap but they are a great value and you can have them resharpened several times because they are thicker than the HSS knives. For people who use their machine often this will solve the problem of always having to replace the standard knives. Most of you don't use steel router bits or saw blades anymore, same concept here really.

Till the end of this week you can pick-up a set for $199.90, please report you're results back to the forum when you've given them a good run. Our first sets will ship in Sept.

Not trying to pick nits here but, since the carbide knives are single-sided, they will really only last 5X as long as the steel version. Also, spare knife sets are often available on eBay for $35 +/-. This makes the carbide versions much more expensive by comparison.

All this being said, if you can avoid nicks and have a reasonably priced sharpening service, maybe the carbide knives would be worthwhile.

I suspect, though, that people will balk at paying such a large percentage of the original cost of the planer for a set of knives.

Brian Evans

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." - Mark Twain

Our new carbide-tipped knives for the DeWalt 735 planer cost 4x more than than our HSS version but they should last about 10x longer. At $250 for the set they're not cheap but they are a great value and you can have them resharpened several times because they are thicker than the HSS knives. For people who use their machine often this will solve the problem of always having to replace the standard knives. Most of you don't use steel router bits or saw blades anymore, same concept here really.

Till the end of this week you can pick-up a set for $199.90, please report you're results back to the forum when you've given them a good run. Our first sets will ship in Sept.

As always, thanks for your support.

David Venditto
Infinity Tools

As a 735 owner, I'm sure hesitant to consider that amount, regardless of the quality. I mean the tool only costs $450.

Our new carbide-tipped knives for the DeWalt 735 planer cost 4x more than than our HSS version but they should last about 10x longer. At $250 for the set they're not cheap but they are a great value and you can have them resharpened several times because they are thicker than the HSS knives. For people who use their machine often this will solve the problem of always having to replace the standard knives. Most of you don't use steel router bits or saw blades anymore, same concept here really.

Till the end of this week you can pick-up a set for $199.90, please report you're results back to the forum when you've given them a good run. Our first sets will ship in Sept.

blade cost and tool cost is really not related to each other. I can buy a $40 router and put in a $60 blade and it will cut well. Or buy a $500 joiner and put on a $500 spirel head. The dewalt machine is robust and lasts if a good cutter costs 1/2 the price of the machine so be it. To me it is just a matter of if it makes sense. Beside it will save wood that would have a less than perfect surface because of a semi dull cutter.

I'm thrilled to hear that carbide knives are now available for the 735 planer, and even more thrilled to hear that Infinity is behind this. Good company to deal with, nice products. I've been holding on to my 735 planner in hopes that carbide would become available. I haven't had the abysmal knife problems that some have reported, but the stock knife longevity hasn't exactly been stellar either. I think the heat generated by that high speed head is what kills the edge quick on the HSS inserts. HSS in a typical induction motor driven head seems to last far longer, perhaps the slower speed creates less heat?

My need for carbide knives is occasional, and when I need them I'm looking for quick installation and set up. At work there is one old 20" Powermatic with a terminus head which typically runs HSS knives, but the boss keeps a set of carbide knives for the occasional run of teak or other very difficult species. The knives go in ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. Ever tried running one of these species through HSS? Just not possible. I am not in a position to spend for a terminus head or SHELIX set up for my own small shop presently. I suppose I could get carbide tipped knives for my 15" delta, but the installation time is far greater, and I don't need to run carbide all the time. Having the ability to switch to carbide quickly and easily for the occasional piece will be a great boon to me.

I fail to see the relevance of the cost of the tooling versus the cost of the machine. I have only a small investment in shaper tooling and at present it has cost me 3X what the used machine did. Should I not buy tooling because of the cost and use the shaper as a giant paper weight? I think the 735 planer is a unique tool brought to market at a fair price that offers the hobbiest or small shop the closest thing to industrial performance available in a compact format. Knives are always going to be relatively expensive when factored against the cost of such a reasonably priced machine. Carbide straight knives are expensive for any machine and are not necessary for every wood worker nor every species.

My local tool grinding service charges $.60/inch for HSS straight knives, and around $2.40 per inch for carbide, so yes expect sharpening to cost more too. Perhaps for some the 10-15X life span of carbide versus HSS will make it cost effective to use carbide as the primary cutting edge on the 735? For others HSS will make more sense. When I need to make a teak door threshold for a client, I frankly don't have much choice and am thrilled that the option has become available. It will give new purpose to what has become mostly a $450 paper weight for me.

Our new carbide-tipped knives for the DeWalt 735 planer cost 4x more than than our HSS version but they should last about 10x longer. At $250 for the set they're not cheap but they are a great value and you can have them resharpened several times because they are thicker than the HSS knives. For people who use their machine often this will solve the problem of always having to replace the standard knives. Most of you don't use steel router bits or saw blades anymore, same concept here really.

Till the end of this week you can pick-up a set for $199.90, please report you're results back to the forum when you've given them a good run. Our first sets will ship in Sept.

As always, thanks for your support.

David Venditto
Infinity Tools

David - thank you for posting here. Couple of questions: The blades on the 735 are indexed. When sharpening the carbide blades I assume you have to make sure that the same amount is taken off each blade so that they align - true? Also, as the blade is sharpened and wears back, how does this affect the operation. It seems that the cutting edge would get closer to the drum that holds the blades and this would change the relationship between the feed rollers and the blades. Any problem with the cutting edge being closer to the drum (such as clearance for chips)? Any problem with the changing relationship between the feed rollers and the cutting edge (such as excess movement of the feed rollers or the feed rollers reaching the end of their travel)?

Mike

Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

Not trying to pick nits here but, since the carbide knives are single-sided, they will really only last 5X as long as the steel version. Also, spare knife sets are often available on eBay for $35 +/-. This makes the carbide versions much more expensive by comparison.

All this being said, if you can avoid nicks and have a reasonably priced sharpening service, maybe the carbide knives would be worthwhile.

I suspect, though, that people will balk at paying such a large percentage of the original cost of the planer for a set of knives.

Brian, you're making an assumption that David meant the carbide blades will last 10 times longer than a single side of the HSS blades. How do you know he didn't mean 10 times longer than both sides of the HSS blades combined? That was what I assumed he meant.

When you buy those $35 Ebay knives, how much extra do you pay for shipping? Ebay sellers are notorious for insane shipping and, "Handling" charges. What level of customer service do you get if there just happens to be a problem with the knives? It's not likely there will be a problem but it's possible. With Infinity you not only get great customer service but those blades are shipped to you for free. After spending $200 or $250 that may not seem like a big deal but since you brought up a $35 HSS Ebay set I thought I'd point this out.

I paid about $175 for my Freud router. It's not my only router but it's my main router so I'll use it as an example. It didn't even come with any router bits, obviously. I have no idea how many hundreds of dollars worth of router bits I have that go along with that router. Several times the price of the router I'm sure. See my point?

David - thank you for posting here. Couple of questions: The blades on the 735 are indexed. When sharpening the carbide blades I assume you have to make sure that the same amount is taken off each blade so that they align - true? Also, as the blade is sharpened and wears back, how does this affect the operation. It seems that the cutting edge would get closer to the drum that holds the blades and this would change the relationship between the feed rollers and the blades. Any problem with the cutting edge being closer to the drum (such as clearance for chips)? Any problem with the changing relationship between the feed rollers and the cutting edge (such as excess movement of the feed rollers or the feed rollers reaching the end of their travel)?

Mike

What he said, and what (including freight) do you charge for sharpening the carbide knives?

I fail to see the relevance of the cost of the tooling versus the cost of the machine. I have only a small investment in shaper tooling and at present it has cost me 3X what the used machine did. Should I not buy tooling because of the cost and use the shaper as a giant paper weight?

The relevance to everything is: cost!

Yes, you should (and have to) buy tooling, but for me ,there is a limit that I can afford, and $250 for 1 blade set is not what I can (or want to) spend. My pocket book has limits, if it didn't, I wouldn't have bought a $450 tool.

When your comparing shapers and routers to table saws and planers/jointers, it's apples and oranges. Shapers and routers will always require more than one tooling, unless you'll only ever make one edge type! A planer can do with one (set) blade.

I do see your point. I said that people would balk at paying such a large percentage of the cost of the the machine - not that they should. I, too, have hundreds of dollars worth of bits for my routers and don't see any problem with that. That being said, these bits can be used in any router. The carbide blades can only be used in a DW735. What if the motor burns out? I know from experience that this will cost over $200 to repair. The Dewalt repair guy told me that most of his pro customers make repairs to portable/hand machines only when the repair costs less than half the price of a new one. Using that logic, I came very close to saving my $200+ and putting it toward a 15" Powermatic. If I'd had $250 invested in carbide blades for the Dewalt, I might have felt tied to a machine I didn't want to pay to repair. With a more expensive machine like the Powermatic, carbide blades or a new motor are relatively small expenses (as a percentage of the purchase price) because you're paying for a machine that will last a lifetime. Not so with the Dewalt, fine machine though it is.

As for eBay, I am smart enough to factor in shipping. The price I quoted was from an auction I found yesterday where I could get two sets of blades, including shipping, for just under $70.

Finally, I don't know that the Infinity rep didn't mean 10X longer than both sides of a steel blade. However, in any catalog I've ever read, carbide is said to last 10X longer than HSS. I think what I said is a reasonable assumption.

Brian Evans

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." - Mark Twain